


Slowed Down too Fast

by gooey



Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen, Nakamaship, Sleep Deprivation, the author may of been more than a little sleep deprived when they wrote this, zoro just wants luffy to sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-11 21:37:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9033188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gooey/pseuds/gooey
Summary: “Perhaps the answer to your question, Usopp, is not found in this plane of existence, but in another,” Robin comments, snapping the book she had been paging through earlier shut.
Zoro recognizes it as the one she had been practically glued to since acquiring it at the last island.
“Wha- what do you mean?” Usopp stutters, looking at Robin in fear.
“Spirits,” she says simply.
Nami and Brook seem to stiffen up in fright along with Usopp.
“You mean… Luffy’s being haunted?!” All three cry in horror.





	

**Author's Note:**

> my gift for the-tiny-glutton.tumblr.com for opsecretsanta2016  
> this thing turned into a monster when I was writing it, but I hope you like it!  
> Merry Christmas :D

“We should be arriving at the next island sometime in the next three days if the weather doesn’t get too bad.”

Zoro watches as Nami retracts the telescope from where she had been gazing out at the clouds over the water. It went without saying that the weather would change. The days where it stayed sunny all day were getting fewer and farther between as they traveled deeper into the New World. Personally, he was just hoping that they don’t run straight into a blizzard, or, and he mentally groaned, hail. It had been overcast all day with a blanket of mist that appeared in the morning and didn’t leave until the late afternoon. It had kept most of the crew indoors, but now that it lifted he and Usopp had went outside for some fresh air while Nami came out to check the weather.

“Do we know what this island is even like?” Usopp asked with a resigned look on his face. Zoro didn’t know why he bothered. Even if they knew the exact specifications of every island they came across there was still a certain someone who would manage to dump them into trouble as soon as he set foot on the island.

“Why would you want to know that? It’s going to be an adventure!” Speaking of the troublemaker, Luffy vaulted over the rail of the upper deck to land heavily on Usopp’s back where he had been hunched over trying to sort out the junk he dumped from his bag onto the lawn. Usopp gave a strange mixture between a scared yelp and a pained grunt as he reflexively tossed the items in his fist away from him.

Zoro lazily tilted his head to the side to avoid losing his remaining eye to a glass marble.

The kitchen door opened as Robin stepped out with a cup of coffee in her hand, “One of the books I picked up on the last island mentioned that the one we’re coming up to has an increased spiritual presence.” The woman was always keeping an “ear” out, although she had loosened up since returning to the crew. Could still be damn annoying sometimes, though.

A grimace came across Nami’s face, “Spirits? This better not be a repeat of Thriller Bark!” She placed her hands on her hips and glared at her captain, who was currently being wrestled by Usopp onto the floor.

“Oh, no. No, no, no, no! No ghosts! No spirits!” He pushed Luffy’s face away from where Luffy was trying to lick his face, “There should be a rule about no repeats!” At that moment Luffy deftly flipped their positions so he was straddling Usopp’s waist, pinning his shoulders to the lawn, and Zoro watches as Luffy licks a long stripe over Usopp’s face and across his eye. With a satisfied laugh he throws himself off Usopp’s moaning body and scrambles over to collapse by Zoro.

Usopp sat up, furiously trying to wipe away the saliva on his cheek, ”Thanks for that, Luffy. I have no idea what I did to deserve that.”

“Usopp’s being a party pooper. Come on! A new island! It’s going to be so much fun!” One person should not glow so radiantly at the prospect of a possibly deadly island full of malevolent spirits.

“Then why didn’t you lick Nami too!”

There is a pause, as those on the deck contemplated on what would happen if Luffy had tried. They’d probably be down one captain and then Zoro would have to kill her in revenge, prompting the swirly cook to attack him in retribution. All in all it would be a mess. Luffy, daredevil and suicidal moron that he was, looked like he was contemplating it anyways.

Zoro got a good grip on the back of Luffy’s shirt, “It wouldn’t be worth the Sea Witch’s whining.”

“Do it and you’ll be so deep in debt your descendants will be paying it off for years after you die.”

Luffy just huffed and pouted, looking nothing like the fearsome pirate with an astronomically high bounty that he is supposed to be and more like a little kid who just got told off for tracking in dirt.

Zoro watched his captain warily as Luffy turned big eyes to him and just stared, “What?”

“What if Zoro gets possessed? Will he stop getting lost?”

He growled as he heard the others burst into laughter. Reaching back to grab the marble, he gave Usopp a dark look as he pegged it at him.

“Why always me?” Usopp shouted as he tried to dive to the side. The cry of pain signified that the marble had reached its mark, though. “Maybe possessed Zoro will have some empathy!”

Zoro just ignored him and turned to the instigator, “If you get possessed I think we’ll all breathe easier. At least the ghost possessing you will probably have self preservation and take the time to at least think a microsecond ahead.” Luffy gasped as if he had been grievously offended.

The argument about ghost, spirits, their susceptibility to possession, and what that would mean for them carried on throughout the rest of the evening. By dinner it had just morphed into good natured ribbing about their various flaws, eventually accumulating in a story by Usopp about how possessed Nami would eventually control the marines by having a stranglehold on their funds, possessed Chopper would be a legendary figure in martial arts, possessed Franky would end up building random, too elaborate bridges across the world and be regarded as an urban legend, possessed Zoro would be able to find any location on time except for the place where he was supposed to meet someone for a duel, possessed Sanji would be able to cook elaborate meals for the dead in the underworld, but to anyone alive his food would always taste like figs and cigarette ashes, possessed Robin would hide under kids’ beds and pinch their ankles when she caught them slacking off on their homework, and possessed Brook would be regarded as a fickle deity that could only be calmed by playing the song “My Heart was Stolen by a Pirate” by the Stomping Tortoises at half speed on a recorder.

Zoro was grinning as he rolled himself into bed. He could hear the swirly brow cook sniggering into his pillow on his own bunk. He let out one last contented breath and let himself sink into sleep. He had the last watch later, after all.  
XXX  
Zoro awoke with groggy awareness.

At first he wasn’t even sure why he was awake. It definitely wasn’t because he wanted to. The reason became apparent when he sleepily poked around. The cook was gone, but that wasn’t anything unusual; the guy got up obscenely early. Brook was gone too, but he often got up when Sanji did. Zoro honestly didn’t know if he slept or not, but that wasn’t any of his business so he never bothered asking.

What was unusual was the absence of Luffy. Luffy’s sleep schedule was pretty erratic. He only averaged about five hours a night. With that little amount of sleep each day he truly had no idea how Luffy managed to keep up his cheery and excited disposition and still be so energetic. Some of that energy had to come from the heaps of meat he would consume each day. Also, despite the fact that Chopper was trying to discourage it, Luffy usually didn’t even sleep his five hours all at once. His narcolepsy would knock him out at random times of the day and sometimes he would take naps- either with him or Chopper or alone in any random place on the ship. He had once found Luffy sleeping under a pile of his weights.

All of that combined into Luffy not sleeping much more than a couple hours in the bunks. However, when Luffy had watch before him- as was what happened tonight- he took a great amount of glee from pushing and pulling Zoro out of bed into the cold in order to curl up under the covers in the prime Zoro-warmed spot he left behind.

So when dawn came, he subconsciously realized he had slept through his shift and woke up. He took a second to mentally bemoan waking up so early before he got up and got changed; sliding his katana into place as he stumbled sleepily out onto the deck.

His gaze skimmed blandly over the picturesque sight of the dawning sun scattering colorful light across the waves in his search for his captain. When his search of the deck yielded no results he began his climb up to the crow’s nest.

When he reaches the top and pulls himself up, he doesn’t see anything at first. He’s ready to call this place a bust until he finally notices Luffy.

He feels completely justified in missing him at first because of how still his rubbery captain is. His worry increases as he steps forward and gets a closer look.

Luffy is sitting on the ground with crossed legs and his back to the bench, his head tilted back to look blankly at the ceiling with glassy eyes. His hands rest listlessly in his lap and his skin looks pale. As Zoro crouches down by Luffy’s side he is disturbed to notice the dark bags under his eyes.

“Hey, Luffy,” he gently shakes his shoulder. No response. He shakes him harder and says firmly, “Luffy.”

Luffy finally seems to snap out of whatever daze he had been in and turns to look at him. He croaks, “Wha’?”

Zoro can feel his eyebrows furrow into an expression of displeasure, “What’s wrong? You were pretty out of it. Do you need to see Chopper?” He is secretly hoping that Luffy will agree. He doesn’t like this look on his friend, but he also knows Luffy better than that.

“Ah? No, I’m fine, Zoro. Just-,” he shakes his head as an enormous yawn breaks free. “Tired,” he finishes as he rubs his eyes.

“Then why didn’t you wake me up to relieve you from watch?” he pressed. He’s not letting Luffy dodge the question that easily.

Luffy just makes a face at him as he laboriously pulls himself up onto the bench behind him, looking like all of his joints were stiff with exhaustion.

“Zoro,” he whines. “I’m fine! I just wasn’t tired so I decided to take your watch so you could sleep in.” He looks down at him in displeasure, “You woke up early on your own anyways, though!”

Zoro has half a mind to tell him that if he wants him to rest soundly than he shouldn’t worry him so much. He raises an eyebrow to call him out on his bullshit remark that he wasn’t tired instead.

Luffy scowled, their understanding of each other perfect even with one of them looking two seconds from dropping into a deep sleep. “Zoro, I’m fine. I’ll take a nap later,” he said firmly. He recognized the tone as Luffy ending the matter so he merely nodded his head in understanding.

At that, a large smile broke out on his face as he looks down at Zoro mischievously, seeming to push back the exhaustion that had been weighing down on him, “Besides, Zoro sleeps enough for the both of us, huh?”

Luffy cackles and uses Zoro’s head as a springboard as he launches himself off the bench, dodging his half-hearted swat as he stands up. He turns when he reaches the hatch to pull down the skin under his eye and stick out his tongue at him before stepping back, foregoing the ladder completely to just fall to the deck.

He lets out a sigh and a small smile. His captain was such a kid.

His eyes were drawn over to where he had left his weights from when he used them yesterday. A more dangerous smile than the soft one he had worn before tears across his face. As long as he was up and here he might as well get some pre-breakfast training done.  
XXX  
Although he was satisfied with what Luffy had told him that morning, he made it a point to keep watch on his captain’s health throughout the day.

When he came down for breakfast, a towel slung across his shoulders and his muscles aching pleasurably, Luffy was already sitting at the table with the others. He was banging his silverware on the table with Brook, creating a pleasurable rhythm (Brook) and a hellish racket (Luffy), respectively. Zoro would have been tempted to dismiss the events of the morning if it weren’t for the slight tired look in his eye.

Breakfast proceeded normally, with maybe a slight increase in the amount of times he was able to successfully fend off Luffy’s thieving hands away from his food. Even so, the amount was so insignificant that he might of just been imagining it. It was a good thing that the love cook always piled on more food than they would actually eat onto everyone’s plates for this very purpose. Mealtimes on the Sunny evolved from Luffy just snatching food to an elaborate game of keep-away where they tried to use their extra food to sic Luffy onto their crewmates in order to buy more time to scarf their own meal down. If there was one thing you couldn’t be on this crew it was a slow eater. Today he had got the raw end of the deal when Franky had sacrificed half a hashbrown to lure Luffy over to his plate, where he had doggedly stuck to for half the meal before Robin had taken pity on him and scraped half of her eggs onto Luffy’s plate in order to distract him.

Luffy remained his usual high-spirited self throughout the rest of the day. In fact, the only trace of that worrying exhaustion that he noticed was Luffy letting out the occasional yawn, but that was hardly worrying.

His fears are assuaged further when he walks in and sees Luffy curled up on the bench in the aquarium bar. He quickly backs out and shuts the door before he can wake the little captain; he swung wildly between being the kind of sleeper that could sleep through a marine bombardment and the kind that woke up the moment you crinkled a wrapped in the same room. Much like Zoro himself, now that he thought about it.  
XXX  
By the time night rolled around once more, his previous worries had left his mind. Luffy had been completely normal the rest of the day, so much so that he had accepted his offer to keep him company on his double watch he took to make up for the fact that Luffy had taken his watch last night.

The first hour had passed peacefully, with Luffy staring out the window of the crow’s nest and drawing on the condensation on the window, wrapped in a blanket. Zoro had taken to lifting one of his heavier weights, the clinking of him setting the weight down occasionally the only sound between the two. Although he always had an awareness of the ship due to observation haki, he also trusted Luffy to keep an eye out for anything strange on the horizon.

Of course, with Luffy silence never survives long.

The first inkling that Zoro had that his silent night was about to be shattered was when Luffy tossed off his blanket and came to stand in front of him with crossed arms and slightly spread feet.

“I bet I can lift more weight than you.”

He paused mid-lift and gave Luffy a confused look. A weightlifting competition between guys is hardly a novel experience, but Luffy has never been one for conventional training or rubbing his strength into other people's’ faces. It’s no secret that Luffy’s a competitive guy, but this is a bit out of the blue, even for him.

“What’s this about?” he states, not agreeing to anything.

“I’m strong. You’re strong. We should see who’s stronger!” With that he easily rips the weight Zoro had been straining against out of his hands before he triumphantly raises it above his head with seemingly no sweat.

He looks disappointed when Zoro just looks startled instead of impressed so he goes around collecting some of the heavy weights lying around. The different sized weights on the end of the barbells make them awkward to hold all together but nevertheless Luffy manages to hold them all above his head, headless to the way that one of them seems dangerously close to slipping out out of his hands and falling on his head. Zoro feels some awe fill him despite the out of character events. He knows that as captain Luffy is the strongest; he’s always the one to take down their strongest enemies, but it’s still amazing to see him easily handle the heavy weights Zoro trains with with no apparent effort on his part.

“Okay, Zoro, your turn!”

“Luffy. I don’t want to have a weightlifting competition. I already know you’re stronger than me.” He lifts his hands to try and pry one of his weights away from Luffy.

When he sees what Zoro is trying to do his grin takes a stubborn edge and his arm extends to wrap around the bundle of weights more securely.

He growls warningly, “Let go.”

Luffy just laughs, ”Nope. Play with me.”

“I don’t want play right now, Luffy. It’s late. Calm down.” He tries again to wrench the weights out of Luffy’s hands, but Luffy overcompensates when he pulls back. With a sound of snapping rubber, Luffy’s arms retract violently, causing the weights to be thrown in all different directions.

Luckily, he keeps ahold of the one he was grabbing at before, but the rest go crashing loudly across the room. Both of them watch silently as one rolls slowly across the floor, collides with the ladder, and falls down the hatch. There is one second of silence before a thunderous bang as the weight collides with the deck.

The dead silence left behind is oppressive. Luffy seems to realize that he has done something wrong and is looking contritely down at the ground. They stay that way until they hear doors bursting open below.

“What the hell is going on up there!” he hears Nami scream from down below.

“Oi, Zoro-bro! The deck? Watch where you’re tossing those anchors you call weights!”

He releases a hissed breath from between his clenched teeth and places the weight he’s holding gently to the ground, “Luffy?”

Luffy nods, hesitant.

Zoro punches him over the head, “Leave.”  
XXX  
After last night's disaster, he spends the first half of the day avoiding Luffy outside of meals. If only so he’s not tempted to punch the rubberman again. He has both Nami and Franky breathing down his neck now. No matter how much he tells them that it was all Luffy’s fault they seem determined to assign the blame to both of them.

“For the last time you harpy, I tried to stop him!”

Nami just puts one hand on her hip and shoves the ledger further into his face, “Well you didn’t succeed! Are you seeing this? All of that money- money that we could be using for food or the innumerable bandages that you use up after one fight- now has to go to fixing the giant hole in the deck from your giant weight!” By the end she had leaned in close to his face in order to shout directly in his ear.

He irritatedly pushed her face out of his space and turned back to where he had been doing maintenance on his katana at the kitchen table, “Look, Luffy just decided to start waving around my weights. I was only trying to prevent the inevitable catastrophe. I’m not sure what got into him last night, but he seems like he’s calmed down to his usual level.”

“He better of, or its your wallet that will be suffering. God knows that Luffy doesn’t have or care about money. Just this once I’ll let it slide, but in exchange for my generosity you better help me carry all my clothes the next time I go shopping.” She sat down at the table across from him and gave him a sly smile over her laced fingers.

He sputtered, “You’re getting angry with me over having to buy supplies for the ship and you want to send us deeper into debt with all your stupid clothes purchases?!”

Nami gasped, mock offended, “How rude! At least some of us have more than a handful of different clothes to choose from. Honestly, Zoro, it’s basic hygiene.” She winked and shot him double finger guns, “Besides, my haggling skills are top notch!” Honestly, what a dork. He has no idea how she fools poor suckers into thinking she’s cool.

Sanji swirls in and places a cup of tea in front of Nami, “Here you go, my dear. Jasmine tea for a beautiful flower.” Then he turns to him and slams a glass of water onto the table, “Mosshead.”

“I want booze,” he complains.

The stupid love cook just snorts and lights a cigarette, “Tough luck. You’ve been drinking too much, so it’s time to water that overgrown garden you call hair.”

He looked him directly in the eye as he chugged the whole glass. When he was finished he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and tossed the glass back at the swirly browed bastard, “Probably the best thing you’ve ever cooked for me.”

Zoro grinned with satisfaction at the grumpy face that earned him.

“Grass like you would be more partial to water,” he sniped as he walked back into the kitchen.

He scoffed at the parting shot and started cleaning up the mess he made cleaning his swords, ignoring Nami’s bland look.

Checking for any blemishes he might of missed, he sheathed his swords and stood up, “I’m going to go pull Luffy out of whatever hole he crawled into to sulk.”

Nami just takes a sip of tea and says calmly, “Check the library, I saw him go in there earlier with Robin.”

He grunted out a vague affirmative and strode out the door.

When he reached the library he was in no was surprised at the distinctly Strawhat flavor of stupidity and craziness that met him.

Both Chopper and Luffy were on the floor, between them a long strip of what looked like Usopp’s design paper that was filled with uneven and wobbly tic-tac-toe grids. On the bench sat Robin, who looked absorbed in one of the books she had bought at the last island. Next to her propped on the bench was a wooden board. It looked like it had also been pilfered from Usopp and was divided into three neat columns- a marked difference from the scribbly grids on Chopper and Luffy’s paper- that featured their names and a number of tallies. Robin by far had the most amount under her name, the next being Chopper, with Luffy having the least amount of tallies.

He stood in the doorway as he watched Luffy shift on his stomach, stretching the hand that wasn’t propping up his head over to scribble in a ‘X’ onto the grid. Chopper smirked as he triumphantly placed in his ‘O’ and crossed out his win, “I win!”

Luffy blew out a gusty sigh and rolled onto his back with crossed arms. Zoro watched as an arm sprouted out of the board and placed another tally under Chopper’s name before disappearing in a small cloud of petals. He pouted at the little reindeer from his upside down position before a tired grin broke out on his face., “Aw, no fair. You’re too smart, Chopper.”

“You complimenting me on my win doesn’t make me happy, you bastard!”

Robin took that moment to look up from her book and direct a small smile to where he was lurking in the doorway, “Hello, Zoro. Welcome to the fourth annual Strawhat tic-tac-toe tournament. We are currently at round thirty two. Would you like to join?”

He shook his head, “No thanks. I just came to make sure Luffy was busy.”

Luffy glowered at him, the effect kind of ruined by the fact that we was both upside down and sporting half-lidded, sleepy eyes, “That’s in the past… You really need to let it go.”

“It happened last night and I just escaped from a session of the money witch screaming into my ear.” He collapsed onto the seat next to Robin, shifting his swords so they rested against his legs.

“Ready for the next round, gentlemen?” Robin smoothly interjected. “I believe I play the winner.”

“Right! Let’s do this!” Chopper balled his hooves up next to his face in a pantomime of a fighting position. He happily drew a new grid on a piece of available space and a hand bloomed next to him in order to make the first move. Pausing before he put his marker to the paper, “Hey, Luffy…” Zoro watched as Chopper looked over to where Luffy was now laying spread eagle on the floor, staring with barely cracked eyes up at the ceiling. “Are you sure you’re feeling alright? You haven’t been up to your usual game this tournament.”

All of them watch as Luffy rolls into a sitting position and then flops next to Zoro.

Luffy turns his face into Zoro’s chest. He can feel Luffy breathe the next words through his shirt and into his skin. “Huh? I’m always fine. Besides, maybe you’re just getting better?” Luffy clutches at his and sags further against his body as if it were seastone, “Ahhh, I’m hungry. When’s dinner? Sanjiiiiii meeeeeat.”

This seems to placate Chopper, who goes back to his game; Luffy’s lethargic behavior attributed to his lack of food. Robin shares a brief look with him and reaches across to pat Luffy’s head consolingly, “Dinner will be in a few hours, Luffy. Please try and be patient. I know you’ve been snacking more today so I know you’re not actually as hungry as you feel.” Then she retracts her hand and goes back to multitasking between reading and tic-tac-toe.

The worry from yesterday comes creeping back, though he tries to tell himself it’s not rational. Chopper, the doctor, is content in Luffy’s health, so he should be too. Besides, everyone has off days. He knows better than to continuously hound his captain with the subject. After all, he knows he’d be damn annoyed if people kept pestering him about his health. If Luffy was sick and needed help he’d tell them. It probably was just him being hungry.

He scowled when he began to feel a wet patch on his shirt and pinched the back of Luffy’s neck in retribution, “Oi, quit drooling on me, idiot. You heard Robin; dinner’s soon.” The idiot in question didn’t react except to tighten his octopus arms around him, leaving him to believe that he hadn’t even felt it through his thick rubbery skin in the first place.

He frowned, not that he was actually agitated or anything, and rearranged them so he was leaning more solidly into Robin, allowing Luffy to sprawl out even more over him. Might as well catch a few winks before dinner as long as Luffy was being cooperative  
XXX  
Zoro didn’t get a chance to observe Luffy any closer for the rest of the day, because an hour later Nami barged in and warned them to get their asses on deck and help get the ship through a series of powerful gusts.

There was only enough time for Sanji to practically shove food down their throats before they had to start furling the sails before the first gust hit them.

The freak weather lasted until the early hours of the morning, leaving them all tired and drained. Thank god Brook had volunteered to finish up the watch by virtue of being the one who doesn’t strictly have to sleep.

When Zoro finally wakes up the next day he notices that Usopp and Chopper are still in bed. He doesn’t blame them, he feels like he could sleep for a few more hours himself, but he was starving. He grunts as he rotated his arm at the shoulder. He knows he probably has a massive bruise there from where he had slammed into the railing diving to catch Chopper before the wind tossed him overboard. Simple sword drills for training today, then.

Outside the mid-afternoon sun was shining harshly down onto the deck, last night’s storm seemingly nothing but an impossible dream. He looks up and sees Nami tending to her trees right before he enters the kitchen. After a bad storm she liked to prune any broken branches and make sure everything is in order.

When Nami sees him up she waves a garden glove-covered hand down at him and calls down, “Wow, I’m really surprised you’re not the last one up.”

“Starving,” he says, shielding his eyes from the sun.

Zoro watches as she wipes a bead of sweat from her brow with her wrist, “Well, you’re not the only one. The stomach with legs has upgraded to a black hole. Luffy woke up way hungrier than usual and Sanji has been pressed trying to fill him up. Not to mention he woke up late, so lunch is a little delayed.”

“Why doesn’t the love cook just kick him out?” It’s not like bastard had any problem doing that before.

Nami just frowned and a bad feeling appeared in his gut, “We think there’s something wrong with him. He’s really lethargic and eating way more than usual, which, by the way, is terrible for our wallets. Also, he has a horrible migraine and couldn’t walk across the deck without covering his eyes.”

“He’s been off for the last couple days,” he said.

“Really? Damn. We’ve been waiting for Chopper to wake up to see what’s up. None of us could get him to ‘fess up to what’s wrong. It’s pretty obvious that he knows what the problem is, too.”

He threw his thumb back in the direction of the men’s room, “Want me to wake him up?”

She waved a hand dismissively, “Nah, let him sleep a bit more. Those gusts knocked us off course; we won’t get to the island for another two days. On the bright side, the weather will stay sunny until we get there.”

Zoro nodded up at her, steeled himself, and entered the galley.

The first thing that hit him was the smell of food and smoke. He saw the cook back in the kitchen, surrounded by a cloud of smoke from both his cigarette and whatever he was frying in the pan he was using. He watched as Sanji turned his head to look at who had entered before turning away with a scoff, but not before he shot a worried look back at the kitchen table.

“That you, Mosshead? Food’s not ready yet.”

He rolled his eyes as he approached the table, “You going blind in your old age? Of course it’s me, and I already know, Nami told me.” He put more emphasis on the last part, just so he’d know that that’s not the only thing she had told him.

“Ah, Nami truly is a beautiful angel we don’t deserve,” was all he said.

Zoro wasn’t in the mood for a fight, so he didn’t bother to challenge the remark. Instead he sat down at the table next to Luffy and across from where Robin was reading a book and Franky was doing a crossword puzzle from the morning’s paper. Both were pretending as if they weren’t secretly watching the other member of the table like a hawk.

Zoro can’t even see his captain at first, the area around his spot was covered in towering stacks of plates, each one licked clean of all food. He shifts a few stacks away and is met with a pathetic sight.

Luffy’s face is pillowed in one of his palms, his other hand slowly shoveling large forkfuls of fluffy eggs into his mouth. On his nose perched one of Franky’s old pairs of pointed sunglasses. That combined with his hat and obscured the upper portion of his face totally from view. If it weren’t for the palpable aura of sleepiness and misery that surrounded him Zoro might of been tempted to laugh at how much Luffy looks like a dumb kid suffering from a hangover the morning after an all night bender.

“How are you feeling, captain?” he asked softly, mindful of Nami’s warning.

Luffy just gives a choked off moan before burying his face further into his palm.

“That bad, huh?”

He watches Luffy nod slowly.

“Chopper will be up soon and can give you something for your headache. You better be ready to talk though. It’s time to stop hiding whatever this is.” He keeps his voice calm and soft to offset his harsh words. Luffy just gives a soft sigh before nodding slowly again.

As the others file in they are briefed on the situation. Everyone tries to remain respectfully quiet when they see how out of it Luffy looks. Zoro himself can’t bring himself to look away from his captain. Even as Luffy’s old plates are cleared and Sanji gets ready to serve lunch his eyes remain glued to his captain.

Chopper comes in just as Sanji is starting to serve the food. He blinks his wide eyes curiously when he sees how quiet everyone is. He opens his mouth, most likely to question them, when his eyes land on Luffy and he shouts, “Ah! What’s wrong with Luffy!”

Everyone shushes him violently as Luffy flinches in pain. Chopper slaps his hooves over his mouth.

“Sorry, Luffy,” he says, quietly this time. “What’s wrong?”

They all give Luffy their full attention, ready to know for themselves. Luffy seems oblivious to their stares burning a hole through him and picks up his plate to dump his lunch down his throat. Once he gets that down he drops his fork onto his plate with a clatter, then promptly turns to squish his face against Zoro’s arm, mumbling something into it.

“What?” he says, baffled. He tries to ignore the point of Luffy’s sunglasses digging into his arm.

Brook raises a hesitant finger, “Ah, Luffy. We cannot hear you like that.”

Luffy pulls back and looks across the table in a slow arc before his shoulders sag, as if not having the energy to be his usual stubborn self.

Zoro frowns. Luffy was meant to be an unstoppable force; the world’s happiest, smallest sun. Seeing him act so weary and tired makes his own heart pang.

“I said,” Luffy mumbles, “that I haven’t slept for three days.”

He curses, “I knew there was something wrong with you that night.”

Usopp looks upset, “Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”

“I didn’t know this was a problem I could have! I sleep a lot. Zoro sleeps a lot. Who has problems sleeping? I thought it would go away,” A hint of that familiar childish whine entered his voice. Zoro couldn’t help but think that Luffy was right though. Usually Luffy had the opposite problem to not being able to fall asleep.

Chopper changes to heavy point and bustles over to check on his now-patient, “It’s called insomnia and the sleep deprivation that you’re suffering from can be very serious. Especially when you let it get this far along!” He gently pushes up Luffy’s sunglasses and exposes dark and bruised eye bags. “Are you getting really bad headaches?” he asked with sympathy.

“Yeah,” Luffy says.

Chopper lets the sunglasses cover his eyes again before he backs off a bit to give Luffy room to stand up, “Okay, come to the infirmary and I’ll give you something for that. I’m out of anything that can sedate you, but I’ll make a natural remedy that encourages sleep and you can rest with the lights turned off. That sounds nice, right?”

Luffy grimaces, “It sounds nice, but every time I try to sleep nothing happens no matter how tired I am!”

“Luffy, at least try one more time,” Chopper pleads.

Brook decides to pipe up, “Perhaps I can lend a hand? Not that my hands are anything but bone.” He seems to remember the state of his current audience at the last moment and changes his shout to a soft whisper, “Skull joke.”

The commotion seems to go right over the doctor’s head as he nods absently in Brook’s direction, “Yes, that could be a good idea.” Tiring of Luffy’s hesitance, Chopper takes it upon himself to scoop Luffy out of his chair and start walking to the infirmary.

“Noooo, my food,” Luffy looks forlornly at the plates of food still around his spot and stretches his hands to grip the edges of the table in protest.

“Increased appetite is a side-effect of sleep deprivation! I know you’ve probably already eaten a bunch already so you’re done,” Chopper tugs once at Luffy, but his arms stay strong. He sighs, “Even if it feels like it, you’re not actually hungry, Luffy!”

When Luffy proves he won’t budge Chopper turns to look pleadingly at Zoro, “Zoro, could you-?”

He easily grabs Luffy’s wrists and tugs them off the table, “Be good. Go to sleep.”

He earns a frown and a stuck out tongue for his troubles. Luffy gets one last shot before the door is closed behind Brook, “Zoro is a hippopotamus!”

Franky laughs, “I think the little guy meant a hypocrite.”

The love cook gave him a grin that looked more like a baring of teeth, “Oh I don’t know, I think hippopotamus fits well too.”

“He’s getting better at insults,” Nami says like a proud parent.

“All of you, shut the hell up,” he spits before going back to his lunch. The laughter that follows does a good job at dispelling the tense mood that was apparent while Luffy was at the table.  
XXX  
Later in the aquarium bar Chopper gathers them all to give a debriefing.

“He’s definitely suffering from severe sleep deprivation,” he starts of clinically. “It comes with increased appetite, lethargy, and clumsiness. He’ll probably have a shorter temper and will be more susceptible to mood swings and episodes of mania. Other risks include impulsive behavior, depression, paranoia, and suicidal thoughts.”

None of those were what a pirate crew captained by an already erratic man wanted to hear. To have some of Luffy’s strange ways heightened even more by lack of sleep is not something that Zoro wishes to have to deal with. Especially the more grim diagnosis.

Chopper taps his hooves together in a nervous habit, “The worst part is if Luffy doesn’t sleep soon his narcolepsy almost guarantees that he’ll start hallucinating. I don’t… I don’t know what he will see. It could be… bad.”

What Chopper didn’t say but what they were all thinking was all the same.

Marineford.

Zoro hoped the world wouldn’t be that cruel. That it would stop trying to constantly hurt someone as bright as Luffy at every turn.

“Were you able to do anything for him?” Robin breaks the guilty silence.

Chopper shook his head, “No, not entirely. I gave him some painkillers to fix his migraine, but even after I gave him a natural remedy that induces drowsiness and Brook played him music he still wasn’t able to sleep! I left him in bed with the lights off to see if maybe it just needs some time. I’m going to keep him overnight to watch him.”

Then he turned to the love cook, “Sanji, could you bring him a small snack later? He’s going to feel really hungry but you can’t let him overeat. He doesn’t actually need any more food than usual.”

“Sure. Any foods to avoid?” he puffs at his cigarette. Zoro had watched as the swirly cook had quickly made his way through a pack, chain smoking to hide his worries.

“Nothing to avoid, but maybe you could make something that will make him tired?”

The swirly cook nodded absently then turned on his heel to go back into the kitchen.

Chopper turned to the rest of them and gave them his best stern doctor look, eyes lingering on Zoro especially, “I know that you guys want make sure that Luffy is okay, but I’m going to have to ask you not to disturb him. He really needs to sleep, and he won’t be able to do that if he’s surrounded by his friends. So please stay out of the infirmary and don’t make any loud noises. I don’t want Luffy’s migraine to reappear.”

Nami clucked her tongue, “Fine, but tell Luffy we want him to feel better?”

Chopper’s eyes lit up, chasing away the sternness on his face, “Of course! I’m sure that will help him feel better!” Then he trotted away and quietly exited the aquarium bar to head back to his own domain.

“What do you think could cause Luffy of all people to have sleeping problems?” Usopp muses.

Franky just settles himself further onto the bench, arms spread out across the back with one leg crossed over the opposite thigh, “It could just be a random medical problem, long nose-bro. Gotta say, though, Luffy sure looked SUPER in my old sunglasses; zombie-kid or not.”

“I thought he looked more like he was on day two of a hangover,” Zoro decided to join in on the lighthearted banter. It felt good to break the serious atmosphere.

Brook laughs and interjects, “I’m not sure that Zoro even knows what a hangover feels like!”

“Perhaps the answer to your question, Usopp, is not found in this plane of existence, but in another,” Robin comments, snapping the book she had been paging through earlier shut.

Zoro recognizes it as the one she had been practically glued to since acquiring it at the last island.

“Wha- what do you mean?” Usopp stutters, looking at Robin in fear.

“Spirits,” she says simply.

Nami and Brook seem to stiffen up in fright along with Usopp.

“You mean… Luffy’s being haunted?!” All three cry in horror.

“Oh god, oh no. I knew this would be Thriller Bark all over again,” Usopp hunches over his stomach as if it were in pain and begin to chew at his nails nervously.

Nami looks looks just as sick as her counterpart as crocodile tears begin to bead in her eyes, “Why is it always us? Why are all the weird dangerous things attracted to us?!”

He ignores their whining, “If you’ve been paying attention, you would realize that if there was a spirit it would only be after Luffy. He’s the only one being affected, right?” Turning back to Robin, “So if there is a spirit, and I’m not saying there is, what is it and how to we kill it.”

“Zoro!” Brook gasps. “You cannot just go around killing spirits. I myself am only a spirit!”

Like he cares. Between the life of his captain and the… afterlife of some spirit the choice is ridiculously easy.

“I think I still have some of my Usopp’s Special Spirit-Destroying Salt lying around somewhere,” he hears Usopp rummaging around in his bag, but Zoro doesn’t look away from Robin and her enigmatic smile.

“At the last island we were at I acquired this book. It features the history and culture of the native people at our next stop, the island of Tinnipenny,” she decides to start out with. “While Tinnipenny is a wealthy trade port in the New World known for its popular racetracks and black market for rare animals, the indigenous people who still live on the outskirts of the island were said to be able to communicate with spirits, specifically dream spirits.” She lets that sink into their heads.

“So Luffy-bro is being haunted by a dream spirit?” Franky asked dubiously.

“That is only my theory. We are close enough to the island that perhaps we picked up a lost spirit,” she says.

Zoro feels out the comfort of Wado, “So how are we supposed to get rid of this dream spirit then.”

Robin stands, “That, the book does not go into. However, I’m sure that if the captain’s sleeping problem were to persist until we reach the island we could find the indigenous people and ask for their help.”

Zoro nods in uneasy agreement. The prospect of an enemy he can’t see attacking his captain makes him feel uneasy. Especially with Chopper’s order to leave Luffy alone in the infirmary.

That night Zoro’s dreams are full of an ghostly enemy, looking out of the shadows at his captain with large, hungry eyes. Taking bites out of his very being while his swords slice harmlessly through its bulbous body. Eating Luffy away until all that is left is a straw hat. However, even that is eaten up in two large gulps.  
XXX  
Day four dawns for Zoro with the ill omen of his nightmare still rattling around in his head. Nami had woken him for the last watch of the night, but the very first place he goes to is the infirmary.

When he quietly opens the door to peer in he sees Chopper curled up with Luffy on the bed and is hopeful. His hopes are quickly dashed when he sees Luffy crack open his eyes.

“Did you get any sleep?” he asks, even if he knows the answer. Luffy just shifts his head to the side, not even having the energy to nod.

“I’m so tired,” Luffy whispers into Chopper’s fur. “I keep hearing people shout at me, or marine ships on the water, but I know they aren’t there. It feels real. I want to sleep. I’m tired.”

Zoro hears the wobbly cadence in his tone and knows that the last thing Luffy wants to have to worry about is being strong for his crew. So he jots out a short note to the doctor so he won’t freak out (“Took Luffy to the crow’s nest. Don’t worry. Leave us alone.”) and gently picks up Luffy, who helps him by maneuvering himself onto Zoro’s back. He climbs all the way up to the crow’s nest like that, with the feeling of Luffy’s heart beating against his back and deposits him back onto the bench. He can’t help the feeling of deja vu that overtakes him as Luffy shifts to look out the window, only to flinch back at the light of the rising sun.

“Forgot about the light,” he pushes his hand back through his hair as he watches Luffy tilt his hat to try and shade his eyes from the sun. “I’ll go back down and grab your shades, and something for the windows.”

He sees a grin curl at the corners of Luffy’s profile, “Zoro is so forgetful. While you’re down there grab me some meat.”

“I don’t even know if the love cook is even up,” he complains as he lowers himself down the ladder. The heartwarming sound of his captain’s laughter chases him all the way down and Zoro is helpless to stop the fond grin that breaks across his face.

After acquiring the sunglasses, tape from Usopp’s hoarder pile, an assload of towels from the bathroom, and breakfast for both him and Luffy he returns to the crow’s nest to find Luffy trying to become one with the bench.

“Got the stuff,” he holds out the sunglasses for emphasis. No response. “Luffy?” The moment he reaches out to touch his shoulder Luffy jerks away and looks up at him with startled eyes. He holds the sunglasses out wordlessly, which he puts on, and the box containing his breakfast, which he practically rips from Zoro’s hands in an unexpected display of vitality to horf down.

Zoro manages to eat about half his food before he gives into Luffy’s puppy eyes, “This is pity food. You just look so pathetic that I’m willing to give you my food. Don’t expect this to work the next time.”

“Zoro’s so nice,” Luffy says without a care in the world for Zoro’s words.

“And you’re a menace,” he counters. Luffy just sticks his tongue out at him, the half-chewed food on it making it doubly gross.

He manages to tape towels over the bottom windows in order to block out the light, but the top windows are too high for him to reach. Even so, the light that filtered through them was nowhere near the amount that the bottom windows brought in. If he wore his sunglasses Luffy should be fine.

He sits next to where Luffy was scraping out any morsels of food he might of possibly missed, “Luffy, I need to know if you’re okay.” He couldn’t stand seeing his energetic captain so still, and he knew that this was weighing even heavier down on Luffy. His captain had never liked being weak, and being betrayed by his own body, losing something that he didn’t even know he could lose? It must be awful. Not to mention that like this he’s virtually deadweight if they get into a fight. Luffy takes his duties as captain very seriously, and not being able to protect his crew is a serious blow.

But that’s what Zoro was for. He watched over and protected the crew when Luffy could not. He was the only one who Luffy would let himself appear weak in front of, and Zoro could sense that he needed to draw out any poisonous feelings Luffy had now before they overwhelmed him.

The scraping slows to a stop as Luffy turned his head to look at him. He places the box to the side and curls up against Zoro’s chest; head tucked under his chin and ear pressed against his heart to hear its steady and rhythmic thumps, “I’m okay.”

Zoro snorts in disbelief and Luffy swats at his face, “No, listen to me. I’m strong! Stronger than the past. I’m not going to be defeated by sleepiness.”

“I know you’re strong, but right now you’re probably feeling pretty weak right now, huh?” He always had to direct Luffy to the point if he wanted the topic addressed sometime in the same century.

Luffy grunted, “Well, yeah. Everything just seems so slow and so much. Chopper said my body knows what to do so why won’t it just do it.”

“Well if it makes you feel better Robin says that you’re being haunted by a spirit from the island we’re docking at tomorrow.”

Luffy tilts his head up and Zoro can practically see the sparkling eyes through the dark tint of his sunglasses, “Really?! That’s so exciting; I can’t wait to see the ghost island! How do I beat up the ghost? Do I have to destroy the skeleton, like with Brook? Can I kick its ass now?”

He dodges the volley of questions and chooses to answer the only one he had any knowledge of, “Robin says there’s people on the island who can help you get rid of it.”

Luffy pouts, “Awww.” He can sense the real disappointment coming off him though.

“Tomorrow,” he promises.

“Okay,” Luffy agrees softly. “My eyes are burning. I can’t tell what is real and what isn’t.” He clutches tightly at his shirt and forces the next words out, “Zoro, help me.”

And so he does. Through the rest of the day Zoro stays up in the crow’s nest with Luffy, reassuring him that the sights and scenarios he’s seeing and hearing aren’t real. They range from the hilarious to the downright depressing. He weathers his snappish and giddy moods. The only time they see anyone else is when the love cook pokes his head in to deliver food that is promptly snapped up. The entire event is stressful for both of them, but Zoro doesn’t let himself fall asleep during any of it.   
XXX  
It is sometime during the next morning when they are summoned out of the crow’s nest by one of Robin’s hands, “We’ve docked at Tinnipenny. I can take you and Luffy to the village now if you’re ready.”

His back cracks as he sits up from where he had been lying horizontally on the bench for hours. He blinks dry eyes down at where Luffy had sprawled himself face first onto the metal flooring and hadn’t moved since.

“We’ll be down in a second,” he says. The hand gives him a thumbs up and disappears.

Yesterday had been rough on both of them, but luckily the worst of the hallucinations had retreated in the early morning, he’s not sure how long that will last if Luffy doesn’t get some sleep though. Unluckily, it somehow left Luffy even more bone tired than he had been previously, leaving him barely able to move.

He nudges Luffy with his boot, “I know you’re not asleep. The sooner we go salt and burn this ghost the sooner we all can sleep, okay?”

Luffy rolled slowly onto his side and curled his fingers into loose fists, whispering, “‘s do this.”

Maneuvering Luffy onto his back was even harder now that Luffy was doing a fantastic impression of a bowl of cooked noodles, but he somehow managed it. He swiped the sunglasses off the floor and pressed them behind him until he hit flesh, “Ow, watch my eye.”

Zoro didn’t bother to apologize as he climbed back down to the deck. He walked past everyone else who called out to either him or Luffy, heading only to Robin who looked ready to go ashore.

She took in their ruffled appearance and bleary eyes but didn’t comment, which Zoro was grateful for. Honestly, the sooner this was over the sooner he could literally rest, “It should be around two hours until we reach the village. I’ve arranged us a guide to get us there safely.” She smiles at their “guide” who looks more like the love cook with the way he was staring dreamily at Robin than any proper guide. Whatever, he didn’t care what his deal was so long as he got them there.

The walk itself was uneventful. Zoro honestly couldn’t tell anyone what the scenery on the way had looked like because he was running pretty much on autopilot. Robin eventually placed a hand in the crook of his elbow in order to keep him from wandering off in the completely wrong direction.

The village itself looked like any normal backwater village. Kids playing in the dusty street, distant fields, this place had all of it. The only thing remotely interesting about the place was the cylindrical buildings with reliefs winding around them in strips, depicting strange figures meeting with humans.

Their guide brings them to the largest cylindrical building, this one with a dome on top. Zoro allows a slight smile to pull at his face at the blatantly disappointed face their guide pulls when Robin casually thanks him for his help and dismisses him.

“Outsiders. We do not get many of those, and certainly not ones as colorful as you.”

Zoro looks to the entrance of the supposed “Dream Temple” at the person who had spoken. It was a middle aged man with his graying hair styled into two swirling horns on top of his head. On his body he wore flowing cream robes with the same scenes that were carved into the town embroidered in magenta on the hems of his robes.

“Who might you be?” Robin asked casually as she stepped closer to the man in order to get a better look at the details of his robe.

The man laughed and bowed slightly to them, “I apologize, I haven’t introduced myself. I am head priest Jomoo of the Temple of Dreams.”

Robin smiled and bowed her head slightly back, “We are three travelers who seems to have run into some trouble with what we believe is a dream spirit from this island. We were wondering if there was any way you could help us.”   
XXX  
Jomoo had them sit on cushions at a low table as he listened to their story, pausing only to pour them fragrant cups of tea.

The temple itself was surprisingly cool and dark, lit only by the torches affixed to the walls and the phosphorescent glow of the paint used in a series of dreamy murals.

“Yes, that certainly sounds like the work of a dream spirit, specifically a baku,” he points at a figure in one of the murals. It is a small being with an elephant’s head, tiger’s front, and a panda’s rear and ears. It looks like it could give Chopper a run for his money in a cuteness competition. It didn’t look like it could pose any sort of threat, but then again, neither did Chopper. “They are usually gentle spirits that like to eat people’s nightmares. They never hurt anyone, and are actually seen as a great help. However, in your case it appears as if a baku got lost at sea before it came upon your ship. It must of attached itself to the person with the strongest dreams after such a long time of starvation. The danger of baku, though, is if they gorge too much on one person, that person starts to loose their hopes and dreams.”

The three of them took the news with the somber attitude that it deserved. The sound of slurping tea quickly broke the mood though.

Luffy put down his tea cup and looked the head priest in the eye with a determined grin, “Hey, Old Priest Guy, how do I kick this baku’s ass.”  
XXX  
Zoro shifted himself into a different position and pinched the inside of his wrist when he felt himself flagging.

Unlike most other battles between his captain and the enemy, this one was proving to be rather boring. Probably because he couldn't see any of it happening.

Jomoo had led them out of the waiting room into an adjacent chamber. This one filled with fluffy bedrolls and large overstuffed pillows. The lights in the large room were even dimmer than before, as if they wanted people to be able to rest easy here. The only thing well lit in the room was a ceramic pot large enough to fit an elephant in the center of the circular room.

It was a simple thing, looking something like one of the love cooks innumerable pots. There was two handles near the top of the lid and a blue glaze. The slight swirling pattern decorating the sides was interrupted by a large square of undecorated material on the front, as if it were waiting for an artist to complete it.

(“You’ll have to fight the baku in the dreamscape, because it is not a creature of this world. This special tea I’m about to give you will project you outside of your body into the spirit realm where you will be able to hurt it. The baku will not be far from your body, and when you defeat it, place it in this pot and close the lid. That will purify and seal away the baku that has been haunting you.”)

It was just him and Luffy in here too. He had elected to go sit with him instead of waiting in the previous room with Robin even when the priest had warned him that he would not be able to help fight against the baku.

Zoro had helped him march himself in with as much determination as he could muster on day five without sleep. Once Zoro had gotten them settled, Luffy had promptly fallen asleep with his head in his lap; practically chomping at the bit to kick some spiritual ass so he could finally sleep.

And now that he’s sitting alone in a dark room on a pile of pillows all he wants to do is sleep too. He won’t though. He promised himself that he would sleep when his captain could. One day without sleep was nothing compared to five.

He’s not sure how long he sat there, peering down at Luffy’s face as he twitches in his sleep and mumbles the names of his attacks under his breath before something happens.

A flash of light draws his attention back to the pot, where a roll of purple fog floods out from underneath the lid like dry ice. Suddenly, the empty flat plane on the front of the pot glows once and then fades to leave behind a stylized inscribing of what he supposes the baku had looked like.

It looks like a bigger, meaner version of the baku the head priest had pointed out to them earlier. It has small, cruel eyes and a multitude of sharp tusks jutting from its mouth. Each paw was adorned with dangerous curved claws, and the baku was posed as if it were getting ready to tear him limb from limb. He’s disappointed he didn't have a chance to fight it.

He looks back down to Luffy.

With that ridiculous smile on his face and the drool coming out of his mouth, Zoro can tell that he’s finally well and truly resting.

He laughed, “Sweet dreams, captain. You earned them.”

With this whole adventure done and the prospect of a new one on tomorrow’s horizon, he feels content in settling back against the cushion behind him for his own rest.

The last thing he can remember is a hand creeping up to rest on the one he had placed in Luffy’s hair before he slides effortlessly into sleep.


End file.
